Pandora's Finest
by Iyearnforaplotadvancement
Summary: Venture to Pandora, a planet of paradise... is what it was supposed to be. Follow along the adventures of the four vault hunters on their journey across Pandora to find the mythical Vault. Rated T for teen because of strong language.
1. Chapter 1

So what

Pandora, once a luxury planet, now nothing more than a dust ball inhabited with the scum of the universe. Whores, thieves, murderers, you name it. Nothing good is left here, well except one thing.

The Vault, it is said in legend that the Vault contains riches beyond your wildest dreams; anyone who'd find it would be famous and praised throughout the land. Not to mention you'd have access to your findings. For years people have told stories about this cave of legend, so is really a wonder that four little kids grow up to be vault hunters?

The sun rose high over the open road as the rickety old bus ambled along the broken and beat up path. On top of the bucket of bolts were luggage trunks and duffle bags all tied down by thin ropes and loose knots, one of the thinner, worn down ropes snapped and a duffle bag tumbled off the bus and onto the dusty road.

"Aw fuck." grumbled a thin, goggled, masked man. From the inside of the bus he watched as the bus got further and further from the duffle bag. A bird at his side who he called Bloodwing ruffled his feathers and turned his head fixing him a curious eye.

"What is it Mordecai?" asked a hulking man sitting at the very back of the bus whose head was brushing the top even though he was sitting down.

"Another one of my bags fell off the goddamn bus. At this rate by the time we get to Fyrestone all I'll have is my rifle." Mordecai growled quietly.

The huge man in the back cracked his neck and then settled back into his seat.

"Told you to pack ligh-."

"I know what you said, Brick." Mordecai interjected, turning to Bloodwing and scratching the bird's head. "I know what you said." Mordecai huffed and sat down again staring out the window blankly.

Closer to the front of the bus a red haired woman slept, her head resting on the window while she breathed peacefully. Even in sleep she was beautiful (despite her occasional snores). A scratched up old SMG rest in her hands, her first gun. To the left of her, on the other side of the isle was a Crimson Lance soldier, to be exact, _ex_-soldier.

The ex-soldier was watching the red haired woman as she slept, turning frequently to a map in his hands then back to her every so often.

And at the very front was the driver, a very happy, very plump middle aged man by the name of Marcus. He was losing his eye sight, something he'd rather not admit, just as he was approaching an old billboard advertising Pandora, a skag had jumped out into the road.

There was enough time for Marcus to avoid it, but as we said, bad eyesight.

_Vroom._

The skag splattered all over the front bumper of the car.

"Damn." Whispered Marcus as he squinted, "Not again."

He looked in the rear view mirror saw the ex-soldier, the masked man, and the hulking figure in the back give him a questioning look, the red-haired woman snored louder then settled back into a quiet murmur.

"Okay everyone let's address the elephant in the room." Marcus announced, "I, Marcus, hit a skag. Happy?" Everyone looked away. Marcus grumbled a bit then perked right back up.

"Hey! Wake up in the back there!" The woman shot up and looked around as she straightened her beige vest and her hair embarrassed.

"It's a bright new day! Full of opportunity." Marcus declared.

As the bus pulled off to the side the four could see the closed off gate and a yellow robot waving to them. A holographic sign that read "WELCOME" presented itself to them.

"Here we are, Fryestone station." Marcus said. "Who's getting off the bus?"

Everyone got up and stretched. Mordecai leaned back a bit until the knot in his back popped. His bird perched himself on Mordecai's shoulder. He picked up his sword and strapped it to his back then tossed the ex-soldier a combat knife.

"Ehy, Roland. Catch." The ex-soldier turned around and caught the combat knife just before it hit the ground.

"Thanks, Mord." Roland replied as he strapped his knife to his belt. Brick in the very back popped his neck again and got up; the bus leaned his way for a moment. Everyone was startled by the sudden uneven weight distribution but was quickly relived when Brick stepped off the bus.

"Hello traveler." They could hear the distant robot say.

Regaining her balance, the red haired woman straightened her posture and pulled down her shirt that rode up on her when she was sitting down.

"Alright boys." She said loading her gun, "Let's get a move on."

She strutted off the bus and stood next to Brick outside. Roland laughed at the woman's bravado. He then looked to his masked friend on the side.

"You ready for this?" Roland asked Mordecai.

"For what? Lilith's bitching? Put up with that for years, this won't bother me now." Mordecai replied smirking.

Roland rolled his eyes, but in a light-hearted manner. He nudged Mordecai in the ribs, "That's not what I mean man. I mean are you ready for _this_."

"Ro, We've dreamt of this since we were in our diapers, now were actually doing this, if I'm not ready for this then I would have just stayed back, but I'm out to get everything life owes me. Life owes me that Vault."

Roland smiled approvingly. They gave each other a quick nod and together walked to the front of the bus.

But before either of them took one step off the bus they froze.

"Don't be alarmed." A female voice said, "I need you to stay calm and don't let anyone know I'm talking to you." Mordecai's initial reaction echoed Roland's

_What the fuck?_

"Start making your way off the bus, you don't have any reason to trust me, but I need you to believe I'm here to guide you. I'm here to help you find the Vault in a moment you'll be greeted by a funny little robot, do everything he says. You'll know what I mean when it happens. I'll contact you again soon."

Neither Roland nor Mordecai knew what to make of what they had just heard. Mordecai had tried to walk it off by laying on a thick sarcastic comment. "Wh-what Ro? Scared already?" he said half-heartedly when his friend wouldn't move. For a split second he had thought Roland had heard what he had.

Roland however was stuck in a state of disbelief. Did he really just hear someone talking to him just now?

"Roland." Mordecai's gruff voice called. But it was Marcus who had snapped Roland out of his trance.

"Ey you in the back, hurry up there."

Roland quickly shuffled to the front of the bus.

"Well, we're here. Don't worry just yet about saying goodbye. I feel like we're going to be doing this again soon enough." Marcus chuckled good naturedly then his expression turned cold, " Now,get off my bus."

Mordecai and Roland exited quickly and joined Lilith and Brick by the yellow robot.

Mordecai scratched the top of his bird's head lovingly. "Why don't you go stretch your wings boy? I'll call you when I need you." Mordecai lifted his arm to the sky and released Bloodwing.

"Hello traveler." Said the yellow robot, regaining their attention.

"Jesus, what took you so long? This _thing_ has been reciting the same line for five minutes." Lilith complained. She stared at Mordecai and Roland for a bit then her eyes widened.

"Oh shit…" Lilith hissed, "I left my crap on the bus." She said as she stared at the rickety vehicle drive away.

"Yeah 'bout that." Roland muttered, "All of it sorta fell off on the way here."

Lilith scowled then huffed childishly. "Of course, of course it did."

"Ah, don't feel bad." Roland added, "Mordecai lost all of his stuff too." A displeased snort could be heard from Mordecai, "Don't remind me." he huffed.

They turned their attention back to the little robot.

"See ya next time! Hah ha!" the robot exclaimed as he waved to the bus with a very rude gesture, "Welcome to Fyrestone, I am CL4P-TP. You may call me by my locally designated name, 'Claptrap'. Before continuing please accept this ECHO device and heads-up display provided free of charge by the Dahl corporation." Each of the four took an ECHO device and waited as the heads-up display loaded in front of them.

"Great! I detect that your ECHO device is fully functioning! This way, please." They followed the Claptrap to the large gate and listened while it droned on about New-U stations.

They walked all the way up to the gate and waited as the Claptrap unlocked it. Lilith yawned as she surveyed her surroundings. She kicked the dirt under her feet and clutched her SMG tight. She frowned with displeasure. She was stuck with a piece- of- crap gun, it was her first and sure there was sentimental value in that, but she had to admit, it wasn't her favorite. In fact if she were to rate it's power it would only rack up a 5.

_I would have had something better._ She thought of her lost luggage left behind somewhere on the highways of Pandora. She carried only a small bag with her, but in it concealed one of the better pistols she owned, not mention parts of a SMG she had found.

She looked at the Claptrap as it fiddled with the gate controls. She looked sadly at her old SMG in her hands.

_This'll have to do for now._ Lilith thought. Suddenly there was a rumbling in the distance. Someone was gunning the engine to a vehicle. "Wait… is that? Oh no! Not again! Ruuuuuuun!" cried the Claptrap as it disappeared into a small shack.

Out of nowhere, four or five vehicles jumped over the gate and swerved, disappearing into the town of Fyrestone.

Lilith clutched her SMG tighter now, her finger on the trigger. To her left, Roland had his assault rifle in his hands. He looked as ready as she was for combat, she smiled upon hearing her behemoth of a friend crack his knuckles to her far right. Mordecai stood in back, his old sniper rifle locked and loaded.

The claptrap emerged from the shack and rambled a bit about bandits. Lilith and the others were too busy drowning him out, they were too excited by the thought of battle, and after being on a bus for hours on end they all figured they needed this.

The claptrap fiddled with the control pad once more.

"Aaaaaand, open!" the robot moved toward the still rising gate and bumped the front part of it onto the gate. "Ow." It mumbled.

The four walked in all together. Almost immediately a shower of bullets began flying. Bodies were dropping, threats were thrown out like confetti, and people were taking damage severely. The claptrap again had gone into hiding leaving the four alone.

Roland had just run out of bullets by the time the last bandit dropped to the floor. He searched around the dead bodies for any spare ammunition. He found nothing of use for his gun, most of it was SMG ammo and a few sniper rifle cartridges and a repeater slug here and there.

"This way!" Announced the claptrap. Disappointed, Roland collected them anyway and followed the others and the claptrap.

A head of them laid a chest. Roland was about to speak up when Lilith and Mordecai instantly rushed past him.

"Mine!" Lilith growled playfully. She dashed towards the chest.

"Not on your life little girl." Mordecai retorted, almost catching up to Lilith.

The chest opened revealing two Repeaters. Lilith snatched up one and ran off ahead; Mordecai disgruntled with defeat picked up the other, weaker gun and stuck the rifle to his back.

"Wow that looks like it could do some damage." Claptrap stated upon seeing Lilith and Mordecai's new findings. "Follow me." it said. Brick grunted and followed behind Lilith and Mordecai while Roland stood back and evaluated what ammunition was left along with the chest.

He didn't notice that his friends were far from him already. Only the gunfire and shouting of voices far away alerted him that his party had gone off without him.

Roland quickly darted down the path which leads out into the center of Fyrestone. Brick had just dropped the last dead bandit on the floor with a semi-satisfied smile. Mordecai looked around approvingly at the bodies littered on the ground. Lilith was busy picking up money that was scattered around.

"Kill 'em! Kill 'em all!" a raspy voice bandit screamed. Roland whipped around and aimed at the bandit. About halfway there was a loud bang and the bandit's head snapped back and fell dead.

"Did that hurt?" Mordecai gloated as he shook his new repeater in the air teasingly.

Lowering his gun Roland looked at Mordecai with an irked expression.

"What?" Mordecai defended. "You had no more bullets anyway."

Roland rolled his eyes.

"Attention citizen of Fyrestone. Don't be alarmed. These new visitors have resolved the problem." Claptrap said to no one in particular.

"Well shoot, I thought I was a goner that time." Everyone's ECHO device had transmitted a message directly to them. The man who spoke had a low, scratchy, cowboy accent.

"Damn bandits won't leave us alone. Had to lock the place up tight. I'll let cha in…hold on… Come on! Dammit. Blasted circuits are on the fritz again. Give it a go from the switch out there would ya?"


	2. Fyrestone

_Second Chapter! So i finally got this done, didn't know where i wanted to go and as a result, lot's of filler. But i think this is pretty decent. I'd also like to acknowledge my first reviewer for pointing out a layout mistake, thanks. I'll get right on it._

_So enjoy the next chapter, tell me what ya'll think! As a general over view, the Vault hunters complete a few missions and rest up for the battle leading to Nine-Toes. I also put in the genre listing that this was a parody, I want to change it to Humor but as you'll read some of the stuff i pointed out seemed a little bit more like a parody. I'm what do you think? _

_Italics-_ thoughts or emphasis

**Bold-** more emphasis and or reading something, or a sign... we have yet to see them.

* * *

"Easy enough." Roland said. He stepped forward from his colleges to the little Bungalow with a 3 printed on the door and side.

He walked up to the control and punched a couple buttons. The motors started roared to life and opened the door. Roland went ahead inside and waited for everyone to follow.

A corpse lay on an operating table, bloodied and blue while a middle aged man turned around with a saw blade in his hand. He swung it over his shoulder and suddenly froze. A yellow tiled, blood-splattered background popped up behind him. His name showed up in white lettering and lasted for a bit before Zed unfroze and brought the saw blade down on the corpse.

"Did… did anyone see tha-." Roland started but was cut off by Zed.

"Thanks for open 'er up again." said the man, "The name's Zed. Folks don't let me on anyone anymore since I lost my license so I keep the med vending machines running. From it you can buy all the healing you'd want from a real doc without the 'Vault-isn't-real' lecture."

"So what now?" Lilith called from the back of the party.

"_Now_ little lady, we go kill some skags. And by "we" I mean you fine people."

Lilith cocked an eyebrow.

"Outside of Fyrestone there's a skag den, just past the gate. Skags are four legged beasts that'll eat just about anything. I want to see if you can hold yourself in a fight, so go out there and kill a few for me."

Roland looked at his team; they all looked at each other.

"How 'bout it guys?" They shrugged. Taking that as a yes, Roland walked away from Zed and met the claptrap outside.

"Now that we're done with that, follow me and I'll open the gate for you." said claptrap happily.

Roland followed the little robot.

They were mid-way to the gate when another rev of an engine was heard. Mordecai instantly tensed up, his repeater held in front of him.

"AAAHHHHHHH!" The claptrap was shot and fell backwards, a blue spark shot out from it lay on the ground it wiggled and moaned.

"Oh my god I'm leaking…. I think I'm leaking." It moaned. The four stood over it and watched as it writhed.

Roland knelt and looked at the claptrap, but did nothing else. Brick watched Roland, as did Lilith and Mordecai. Brick snapped in Roland's ear, no response.

"I think we need to find a repair kit." Brick grunted.

Roland spoke up, looking around a bit dazed "That's a good idea. Let's-."

_Bang._

Roland crumbled to the ground. His left shoulder winged, blood dribbled out from the apparent bullet wound. He fought the urge to clamp a hand over his shoulder and looked around for the gun that fired at him.

Lilith knelt down beside him to examine the wound.

"Over there, to your left Lil!" Lilith whipped around and fired a couple rounds into the person to her immediate left.

"Brick, take Roland, got get the repair kit." Lilith commanded, "Mord and I got it." Brick covered Roland as they ran off to find the repair kit. Lilith watched as Roland and Brick disappeared then shot down another bandit.

Mordecai had positioned himself on the opposite side of Lilith. She had noticed that he had switched back to his sniper rifle.

_This'll be over soon._ She thought with a mental smirk at her partner's skill with the gun. She ducked while her companion popped off another round. She came out from hiding and spotted the last bandit hiding behind a barrel.

"I got him!" Lilith and Mordecai said aloud in unison. Behind the barrels the bandit squealed with terror.

Lilith and Mordecai stared at each other.

"Put your gun down ol'man, this one's mine." Lilith hissed taking aim at the Bandit.

"You serious right now?" Mordecai sneered making Lilith lose focus and again she turned and with the same irritated expression stared at Mordecai.

"Yeah I'm serious. Would you let me shoot already!" she growled.

* * *

As Roland and Brick searched for the repair kit Roland couldn't stop thinking about the female voice who spoke to him

_You did it, I knew you were the right choice. Oh-that poor little robot's hurt; would you give him a hand?_

Her words were simple. Nothing too cryptic about them, but for some reason Roland could not get it out of his head. For one thing Roland felt like a crazy person seeing that no one else had mentioned hearing anything. And for another, Roland was seeing the female's face too.

Piercing blue eyes and a pale complexion framed by black hair presented itself to Roland whenever he heard her voice.

Roland wasn't frightened by the mystery woman. She didn't seem a threat to him. He was rather intrigued by her. He wanted to know more about her. As Roland stood around thinking about the voice in his head his thoughts drifted off to his shoulder. It was funny how the more he thought of it the more it hurt. It wasn't his first time he had been wounded and yet it still hurt like it had been. He sucked in a sharp breath as a new wave of pain eased its way into his shoulder. Even though it wasn't exactly her fault Roland thanked the female voice for the bullet wound.

"Roland." Brick called suddenly. "I found it."

Roland looked at the repair kit in Brick's hand and then nodded.

"Let's get back to Lil and Mordecai."

When Roland and Brick had arrived a triumphant Mordecai looked down at Lilith.

"I said he was mine… jackass." Lilith had muttered.

Ignoring the two, Roland took the repair kit from Brick's hands and started to fix the frayed wires and dented metal on the claptrap. A moment later the claptrap sprung up and struck a pose.

"Good as new." It commented. It then moved to the control pad by the gate. The gate opened slowly.

While they waited Roland heard the voice in his head again.

"He seems to be okay, now it's time for you to play your part in the journey to come."

"What are you?" Roland whispered in wonder and frustration.

Lilith stared at Roland, concern clouded her eyes. "You okay?" She questioned. Roland shrugged her off. "It's nothin'."

Just as Zed had told them a den faced them. Looking through the scope on his rifle, Mordecai counted all the skags he saw pacing in front of the den.

"Three." He said after a second or two.

Brick screamed, his fist clenched as he ran after the creatures. They watched as he demolished the skags. The bodies crumbled under Brick's mighty fists, their skulls smashed and unrecognizable. By himself he beat down three skags. Brick ran back covered in blood, everyone had a pretty good guess it wasn't his.

More skags emerged from the den. They charged at the four Vault Hunters. Mordecai was scratched by one skag and ran off to avoid it. Running backwards he took aim with his rifle and turned the skag's skull into slush, however he didn't see the two following behind it. Roland still slightly slow from the last injury he received tried his best to kill the skag in front of him. Brick had no trouble; he went straight to the opening of the den and started to smash skulls.

Lilith was busy with a skag of her own. She unloaded a barrage of bullets into the creature in front of her then pivoted to dodge the one lunging at her from behind. She stared it down and smirked, she pulled the trigger.

An empty click of the gun laughed at her.

"Great, out of bullets." She dashed off back into the town of Fyrestone, as she ran the claptrap apparently was talking.

"Thank you for visiting Fyrestone, Farewell traveler! Remember to say 'hello' to all the claptraps you may meet on Pandora, now I shall go back to my studies on the properties of sand!"

She ran right past the claptrap with the skag still tailing her.

"How are you not freaking out?"she yelled at the little robot. In response claptrap simply waved.

Lilith rolled her eyes.

She turned around now running backwards. She slowed her pace and waited for the skag to run at her, the skag pushed itself off the ground; Lilith hit it with her left hand in mid-air. The skag fell to the ground dead.

"I'm really good at this." She said. Lilith made her way back out into the road. Brick was still fighting off skags, holding one in particular in his hands and punching it. Roland was doing well, from what Lilith could see another dead skag laid at his feet.

She couldn't see Mordecai anywhere. Brick roared and finished off another skag and finally Zed contacted them from the ECHO device.

"That 'oughta do it. See ya in a few." Lilith still looked around for the masked man when she heard his cries.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH." She instantly saw him, down on one knee, swinging at the beasts of Pandora around him. She sprinted over to him, hit one skag on the back of the head killing it.

She started to heal Mordecai.

"AAAHH… ahh..ah."

"Stop screaming." she said bluntly.

When she was done Mordecai got up and dusted himself off and started walking towards Roland and Brick.

Lilith followed behind Mordecai. "You're welcome." she murmured. Together the four ran back to Zed.

"Looks like those skags weren't too much trouble." He said, "Listen, I gotta another job for you."

* * *

"So what? I just stab myself with this right." Roland asked

"Yeah just anywhere." Lilith replied. She shifted her weight on her right leg to her left. She tried to keep her voice low. On a bed adjacent to Roland Brick slept.

Roland looked down at the needle protruding from the health vial he purchased. His eyes wandered away from the needle to the various parts of the room, the rusted old walls, the dim fading light bulb, and the dirty floors. For the next few days he was to call this home. Zed had helped them open up a new bunker that they could stay in. Tomorrow they were to kill a few bandits and look for their supposed leader Nine-Toes. And according to the mysterious voice in his head by helping Zed people were more likely to help them get closer to the Vault.

The voice was bothering him more now. Every time he heard her voice it was like a tease. There were many things he'd like to ask and yet she never seemed to let him speak.

"Roland, are you gonna do it or not?" Lilith asked.

"Huh?" His eyes gazed up to the red haired woman. In some ways that voice had reminded him of Lilith. A mysterious woman with some kind of plan, collected and calm, but that was about the only thing she and Lilith shared.

He studied her features, the pale skin, the golden eyes, dramatic eyelashes, and the straight bridge of her nose. Of course the blue tattoos. Once when they were kids Roland had thought they were just colorful markings she had drawn on herself, but as they grew older he realized that they were more than just a pretty pattern. They were marks that defined her, they told the world what she was, Siren, women of legend said to be beautiful with extraordinary powers.

"Roland." Lilith said again, this time more forcefully. He finally looked up and paid attention to her.

She made a face, "Are you okay? Like really this time, what's up with you?" He shrugged.

_I'm hearing voices and seeing things 'Lil. You know nothing major._ He thought silently to himself. He immediately shook off the sarcastic thought and answered her.

"I'm just kinda worn down. Long day." He twirled the vial in his hands looking back down at it now.

"Well make sure you use that at some point before you bleed out or something." She joked lamely before leaving. "You know I can't handle those two just by myself."

"Sure." Roland said in the same lame tone.

Lilith walked out of the bunker and off into the night.

Roland still sat at the bed and fingered the vial. Taking a deep breath he pushed the needle into his skin and pulled down on the handle and waited for the medicine, elixir, snake oil, whatever was in the vial to kick in.

Done with the vial he threw it aside and laid back on his cot. Exhaling heavily he closed his eyes and finally allowed himself to sleep.

Lilith was walking around Fyrestone. She was restless. Her adrenaline was pumping too hard for her to simply sit down and sleep. She decided it was best to run around, maybe kill a few skags until she was even had half a mind to run out and kill those bandits now, but she knew better than to be so reckless… at least by herself.

She did another lap around the town. It was only on her fifth did she see Mordecai on the town's water tower. She watched as he reloaded and shoot something from outside of the town.

"How'd I miss him?" She grumbled. She thought of climbing up to see him, sit there, talk, just be social but then she realized how silly it was. Sure they got along; they kind of had to under these circumstances but she never really considered them friends. It had been that way since they were little-well since _she_ was little he was already old.

It was mainly due to the age difference that she never really spent time with him. But how would that really look? He was twelve years older than her. Now that they were adults it didn't matter but back when she was a kid being twelve years old following around a twenty-four year old man looked very strange. He would either be mistaken for her father, or a pedophile.

Taking a last look she turned and began another lab around the town.

Another pop resounded from Mordecai's gun, just behind her raised heel landed a bullet. Lilith flinched and stumbled as she turned around.

A high pitched cackle ensued from the water tower.

This was another reason why she did associate with him.

Lilith could feel her blood boil under her skin. She could handle abuse; she could take a punch in the gut verbal or non and walk away like nothing happened. You could throw her off the side of a mountain and she could hobble away. So she couldn't understand why such a childish act that was nowhere near abuse bothered her so much.

It could possibly be due to the fact that it was him, Mordecai, old man, pain her ass, the person who got under her skin. But she knew it was so much more. It was like there was a special gland in her brain that was programed to react instantly and irationally to him.

"What the _fuck_ was that?" She seethed. Mordecai's laugh got louder then he quieted down.

"What? You didn't like that?"

"NO! I didn't, what if I came up there and shot you?" she snapped.

"Girlie I'd like to see you try." and then he broke out in another round of giggles.

She growled, her fists clenched and unclenched, any thought she had of playing nice with him melted away into thoughts of violence. She breathed out a ragged breath and tried to calm herself. Since she was little she knew she had a bad temper, but rather than letting it take control of her she instead tried not to let that happen. She wanted to reply more on her wit and rather than her rage.

Taking another deep breath she sighed. Looking up at the tower where Mordecai had stopped laughing and was now reloading his gun but with a shit-eating smile on his face.

Her adrenaline was now worn off. She spat on the ground in anger.

"Whatever." She mumbled, "Fuck you old man."

A loud shift was heard, Mordecai's voice grew heavy and hoarse. "What's you say to me?"

Lilith, back turned smirked.

Mordecai got under her skin but she knew how to burrow under his.

Turning ever so slightly just barely enough to see her face over her shoulder she smiled wickedly.

"You heard me."

* * *

_And the plot thickens! Not really, but this is just a little argument i threw in. So as i said before my focus on character jumps alot. So far Roland and Lilith have hogged the spot light. Next time it'll be Mordy and then just incase you were wondering, no. Roland isn't the only one hearing Angel. I just don't want to go that far ahead yet and include everyone. Personally i think it'll be too confusing._

_I hope this chapter is as satisfying as you hoped it would be. If not let me know and i'll have it donw lickety split._

_Sorry for the fluff again, some people liked it but i think i put an excess of it in here. As always lemme know what you fine people thought!_


	3. Mordecai

_Okay so new chapter! Yay this took forever only because I was busy (lazy) and couldn't find time. I spell checked this twice. If there's an error I'm going to shoot myself in the face repeatedly, I don't know how I'll do it, but I will. _

* * *

His chest was tight; his breath was uneven and jagged. His lungs burned as they expanded and contracted. His vision was blurred, and yet he'd never been so focused.

This was battle.

Numb fingers from holding on a trigger and an instinct to shoot anything that moved were things that he had learned to live by. It was his code, his honor, his one right that no one could take away, because hell, he'd blast 'em.

It was truly a thrill for him. But it was also something that he loathed at the same time. To him battle was like air. It was something so vital, he needed it and couldn't go very long without it, but at the same time he hated it. He hated how reliant he had become on it. He hated that no matter how hard he would try he'd give in.

Sometimes he wished he could just sit back, live an ordinary life of a sort. Live a simple existence where violence wasn't necessary.

But then there would come a time when he'd set up just the right shot, a precise bullet right through the eyes of some cretin that lit him up like… like some kind of happy holiday and pretty soon he'd forget his hatred for a little while.

* * *

"What'd you say to me?" Mordecai's heavy and low voice asked, but softly as if he was calling a bluff.

"You heard me." the smirking Siren said. Slowly she faced him. She initiated another of their famous stand-off's.

"Take it back kid, you don't want to start something you can't finish." He warned. "Must I remind you of last time?" an evil grin crept onto his face.

"Well I don't know, hearing you scream for mercy made me ignorant to anything else." She countered. "I guess you'll have to come down here and remind me." It was then Lilith started to glow, metaphorically. Her adrenaline was pumping again.

Mordecai stood up, his body tensed for combat but the longer he stared and pondered the outcome of the fight the more and more he withdrew physically and mentally. His at winning chances were great, Lilith's not so much. He knew this would only result in another week of a sore-loser Lilith and really that wouldn't be good for anyone in their group. If dragging a woman like Lilith through Pandora was tough, dragging one with an attitude was worse.

He huffed as if he were about to comeback with some smart remark but then anti-climactically dropped his shoulders and sat back down.

"Some other night maybe." He said dismissively. "Not in the mood right now." And then without another word he turned and took aim at things across the street, setting up for another kill.

"That's it?" Lilith remarked displeased. She climbed up to where the Hunter had rooted himself.

"What the hell? You left me hanging." She said half irked, half jokingly.

"Yeah…" Mordecai mumbled, "Just not feeling it." He didn't really have words to describe the feeling other than, _don't really feel like kickin' your ass tonight, any other night would be fine. But I'm not traveling around Pandora with a butt-hurt little kid._

Of course though that would be really rude and only entice her more to fight him.

"Well I'm pumped now. So you're gonna have to talk me until I fall asleep." She said matter-of-factly.

"Oh god." The Hunter rumbled. "What are you five? Just… Just go to bed… or something." Mordecai said trying to focus again on a skag that had wandered into his sights.

"Oh what? Dislike small talk, that's another thing we can add to your list, right up there with eating." Mordecai took a moment to process what he had just heard and made a small smile, not letting Lilith see.

"You know, because you told me once that-."

"Yeah I know." He said cutting her off abruptly. His smile was fading now, he tried to focus back on the beast he saw through his scope. All was quiet for a moment. Mordecai waited for the right moment then pulled the trigger.

The skag fell over dead as Mordecai chuckled. He reloaded and then set the gun down. He looked over his shoulder to see if Lilith was still there since she stopped talking and her breathing had become almost inaudible.

He turned around fully now to look at her. She was staring up at the sky, her eyes seemed far away.

"Lil'." He said. At first she didn't respond until he shook her lightly.

She had a face as if she had awoken from a deep sleep.

"Y-yeah, what?"

"You're spacing out kid."

"Oh…" She commented slightly embarrassed. "I was just admiring the sky, I guess." Her voice was timid and unlike herself. "It's beautiful, a nice shade of blue and grey and even a little orange at the further edges."

Mordecai looked up with her.

To him there was nothing. The sky was all one grey blur, the farther reaches Lilith described as orange were just lighter shades of grey. He was colorblind of all things. As a cruel joke he used to say that in return for all his skills he had as a sniper God took the color from his world.

"Uh yeah." he agreed, "Real nice."

But really he couldn't even begin to fathom what colors she were talking about. He imagined teal was cool from what he'd been told but other than that he was clueless when it came to the things called colors.

Lilith yawned again. "I think I'm ready to hit the sack." She looked at Mordecai again then stretched.

"You should probably get some sleep too. Big day ahead of us."

Mordecai nodded. "Yeah."

Sometimes you feel so lost, so far and detached that nothing could ever bring you back. It's as if some entity consumes you. You are a shell, a stranger, watching your own life through someone else's eyes.

You have no sense of direction, no driving force. Nothing.

Many times had this plagued the Hunter. But when he was at his very bottom did he look for the highest reason to change.

Mordecai woke with a start.

A thin layer of cool sweat lined his bare forehead and neck. Looking out his window he saw that Pandora's sky was still dark. Another quick glance to his right revealed that his pet Bloodwing was not awake either, a sign that his subconscious had not woken him up prior to any danger. It was as if him and his pet were connected, one never went anywhere otherwise unless it was agreed upon beforehand.

But he knew in this case exactly why he had gotten up early.

Mordecai pulled up his calloused hand to wipe the sticky sweat off his forehead then dropped his arm to his side. Sighing with a gust of relief he sat up on his tiny, busted up cot and looked out his window once more.

_Nightmares,_ he thought with a slight scowl.

The wind blew in and graced the top of his head, grateful for the breeze he laid back down and stared straight ahead to wall in front of him.

_Nightmares_. He said again in his head. _Nothing to be afraid of, your dreams are just having a real shit night._ He closed his eyes again trying to fall back into the world of sleep.

But despite his efforts he couldn't seem to bring himself to close his eyes again.

In truth what he had dreamt had scared him, even if he wouldn't admit it.

In his own personal nightmare there were no creatures, no horror story effects, but the simple and possibly realistic chance of failure. That was all, failure and loss.

Failure to find the Vault, loss of his most prized possession Bloodwing haunted his nightmares frequently.

He grunted and rolled on his side. To one corner of the room laid his clothing, mainly his vest and his belts and his pants. His boots were at his bed side. He slept in his boxers and his under shirt. His mask he kept within arm's reach, his goggles around his neck.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Mordecai rose from bed and slipped into his pants and boots. Bloodwing shifted and woke. Mordecai suddenly noticing that his friend had woken up came to Bloowing's side and pet the bird's head.

"Go back to sleep boy." The bird did not fall asleep but calmed and let Mordecai continue dressing. Mordecai then put on his goggles, he left the mask where it was on the floor and grabbed his favorite rifle.

Since he couldn't just drift off into slumber again he decided to do what he did best. A bit of target practice would be enough to lull him back into sleep.

He pulled his goggles around his neck up to his face, no need for a mask at this time of night, he mainly wore it to keep the dust and dirt off his skin and face but since he didn't plan on doing anything too rash he didn't bring it with him.

He walked over to Bloodwing and pets the bird on its head one more time.

"I'll be back later" he told the bird and then stepped outside.

It had been long since the team had killed off Nine-Toes. About three days ago Bone Head has met his demise, now they were working on Sledge. According to Roland, Sledge was holding a part of the Vault key, together they all agreed to go after him.

So the Vault hunters set after the bandit king, they decided to set up camp in an old bandit camp along the way to rest up before they went after him. Mordecai liked this camp particularly because of all the perfect sniping positions, not to mention the view.

The camp over looked the low desert part of Pandora, to be honest it wasn't really anything spectacular to look at, it wasn't beautiful or very calm, the landscape was decorated by burning husks of scrap metal and trash and if you walked to far Boundary Towers would zap you to your local New-U station. But the over look gave Mordecai perspective; he liked knowing where he was going even if he couldn't exactly go after it. You could call him a big picture guy.

Walking out to one of the ramps he inhaled the heavy and salty air. This planet was much different from his home world Artemis where almost everything was perfect for hunting, the air, the landscape, even the weather unlike Pandora. Pandora was crude, crusty, and unsanitary.

But despite all that he managed to use the environment to his advantage.

He scratched the top of his head and readjusted his goggles. He went up another ramp and then onto one of the platforms. Through the scope he had on his rifle he further surveyed the area, nothing to shoot but rocks and dirt. Sighing unsatisfied he took a seat where he was standing and swung his legs over the edge of the platform he was on.

"Whoa." said a female voice, "So there _is_ a face under that mask."

Mordecai turned his head slowly.

"Well technically I knew there was but I haven't seen it in a while." Lilith stared down at Mordecai, his eyebrow was raised.

"Damn you've gotten old." She said unimpressed at the wrinkles and deep ridges that had set themselves into the man's face. Mordecai stared at her disheveled hair and clothes ignoring her.

"wherever have you been?" he said commenting on said clothes and hair.

Lilith lifted a hand to her messy locks then pulled out a bag from behind her. Still combing through her hair she dropped the bag on the floor.

"Just went on a midnight supply run. Don't thank me or anything." She remarked sarcastically.

Mordecai opened the bag and dug through the contents. In it were boxes of ammunition ranging from pistols to shotguns and a few stacks of bills.

"When'd you find time to get this?" He asked quizzically.

"Just now." Lilith then, happy with her still messy but neatly parted hair, fixed her clothes.

Mordecai looked through the bag again and pulled out three cartridges of sniper rifle ammo and a few revolver rounds, he handed the bag back to Lilith. Something in the air caught his attention.

Overhead flew a rakk, the rakk did not attack them, just simply flew in lazily circles and eventually flew off, Mordecai watched as the rakk dipped and dived then flew straight into a cliff side and flew off again.

_Dumbass_, he though, _flight wasted on one of God's dumbest creatures. _Then suddenly he had an idea. He stood and grabbed his rifle, he walked down another ramp with purpose.

"Where are you going?" Lilith called from behind. Mordecai glanced over his shoulder, "I'll be right back. Don't wait up for me." he then continued down the ramp. Lilith quickly stuck a hand into the bag, "Then take this." She tossed a stack of bills over his shoulder, he caught it just before it hit the ground.

Staring at it he asked, "What's this for?"

"The New-U station takes money out of your account every time you re-spawn." Mordecai smirked.

"Found that out the hard way huh little girl?" Lilith rolled her eyes.

"Shut up ol' man."

Mordecai continued down the path and off to the left until the camp was no longer visible. He remembered somewhere along the way he and Bloodwing had found a cave. He had recalled seeing a few rakks flying into the cave once. They'd made perfect targets.

It was all too tempting now; the more curious side of him took hold of the situation. He found the cave with little trouble, looking at it in the moonlight he braced himself and then took the first feeble steps inside.

It was about an hour he spent walking inside, nothing was here, he was sure of it now, completely sure, nothing.

He rolled his eyes in disappointment and turned back, he really _was_ tired now. Walking around for an hour in a dark cave, constantly being tense and tripping over the jagged cave floor would certainly do that to you. He sighed and cracked his neck; his nightmares were sure forgotten now. He wanted nothing more than to just curl up in his cot and sleep the rest of the night.

He was at the mouth of the cave when he spotted the full milky moon; it made him all the more tired, and a bit weird-ed out. Rarely did you ever see a full moon on Pandora, let alone a full one. Despite its beauty it casted an eerie glow about the place, which made Mordecai feel uneasy. It was then did he feel the need to rush back to camp.

When he arrived everything appeared normal. But there was creeping feeling on the back of his neck. He crept quietly into his own bungalow, Bloodwing was where he should have been but the bird was fidgety, he looked as if he were about to move any minute.

Mordecai quickly ripped the goggles off his face, and haphazardly threw on the rest of his clothing. He switched from his rifle to a revolver he found some time ago but in the midst of all this he didn't hear the person behind him step in.

Mordecai turned and froze with surprise and (though he would never admit) fear.

"Lilith!" he hissed in a whisper, "Don't sneak up on me kid." He growled as he finally loaded the revolver, Bloodwing ascended to Mordecai's shoulder.

But Lilith stared at him, her eyes were blank, her clothes and hair still messy.

"What?" he whispered again.

Lilith didn't blink. Her stare grew intense, her eyes shouted something important, Mordecai just couldn't pick up on it though.

Lilith then brought her hands to the front of her; she started making signs upon seeing that the Hunter still wasn't getting it.

Mordecai recognized it as the game they used to play as kids, each sign meant something different. It was their version of sign language since no one really knew how to sign properly and that they found this to be faster.

He racked his brain trying to remember what those signs meant.

Lilith kept the movements small, as if trying to hide them; it only made Mordecai more anxious, he gripped his revolver tighter.

With her nimble fingers she made talons resembling a bird's, her index and middle finger plus her thumb. Mordecai remembered that the sign meant danger, "danger is nearby" then Lilith hitchhiked her thumb behind her. Another sign she made resembled an 'R' and another sign that meant 'B'.

Mordecai then knew exactly what was happening, but just to make sure.

"Where are they?" he mouthed.

Lilith's brow knit tightly together and frowned with a twisted look of pain on her face.

And that was enough.

He dropped to the floor, Lilith copied and crouched, her back slid against the cool tin siding.

Mordecai slid a spare gun over to her. Lilith grabbed at.

"Princess… where'd you go?" mocked a raspy whine of someone outside

Lilith's face was full on contempt, her disapproval at the nickname was obvious. Mordecai jerked as if to get up but Lilith shook her head.

"No." She mouthed. "Look at their level." She whispered.

Thanks to the Heads-Up display it showed the Vault hunters a level of skill that everyone adorned.

Mordecai was barely a level thirteen. The bandit outside, though concealed, was fifteen. He drew the conclusion that Roland and Brick had thought together (or apart) they could take the bandit or bandits.

"How many?" he whispered.

Lilith's eyes darted towards the entrance. She shrugged.

Mordecai looked outside again. He decided to risk it all.

"On three we run out side and your fight like hell okay?" Lilith nodded.

"One…two…three." Mordecai released Bloodwing and unloaded his whole clip into the first bandit he that crossed him.

* * *

_here we are the end of another chapter, hopefully you weren't too bored. Yes this pointless chapter does have meaning. I'm sorry for skipping the bosses but i found that I really wasn't moving anything along and i had to speed up. I also hope you guys liked this one. If not tell me, just don't flame me. Don't think i'm popular enough for flames anyway though. And if you care too leave a review. Thank you._


	4. The Great Escape (part 1)

_I know i haven't updated in forever. Sorry about that. I was too busy playing BL2, I just finished the second DLC and working on the third and then I got caught up in all the hype about the new character coming out. Not to mention Miss Moxii's under dome in the first game is still not beaten. I've also come down with a cold so I've felt too icky to even think of getting outta bed. But fear not, once this is all over I'll be back to writing chapters every now and again._

_This chapter is very short. Leading into a bigger conflict. Enjoy._

* * *

Brick sat in the corner tied up next to Roland.

Silently he wondered how he had been captured by men less than half his size. He blamed it on being out manned but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it was being unskilled.

Brick felt guilty for not watching his friends back. If only he stayed near the camp like Roland had asked he might have been there in time to save him. But if Roland were conscious he'd tell Brick that guilt never got you anywhere, there was no use in crying over something in your past.

Roland had been beaten unconscious prior to them being tied up.

Brick nodded his head in respect; Roland had put up a good fight. Not to mention saved Brick from dying twice as they were dragged here.

Brick owed him the small gesture of saving him back.

He struggled in the tethered and frayed rope bound tightly on his wrist. It would be no problem breaking it. All he'd have to do was slowly pull his hands away from each other until one of the ropes snapped.

There was the problem of the bandits however.

Despite his considerable size and strength he was no match for the men.

Thanks to the heads up display the Claptrap had given him it showed everyone's experience level plus what state their health and shield were in.

Brick himself was almost fourteen while Roland was halfway through thirteen. These bandits were fifteen and some were over. By himself Brick imagined his chances of killing all the bandits with his fists and little ammunition he had left would be fine.

But there was the problem of Roland. He wouldn't be able to run, fight , and carry Roland without dying first.

Brick shook all thought of doubt out of his head. He needed to think this through. What was Mordecai always telling him?

_Look for the right shot. And stop yelling in my ear._

"The right shot…" Brick muttered to himself.

"What was that?" a bandit asked walking in. His gun was aimed at Brick, who had just become aware of the bandit's presence. The bandit still held his gun to Brick's face. Brick just shrugged him off.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." The bandit said triumphantly. At that moment Brick wanted nothing more than to just break free from the ropes and pummel the bandit. But as quick as his anger had came it passed. He needed to keep a level head.

A soft groan came from behind Brick.

"Ah, man…"

"Roland."

"Brick? Where are we?" Roland shifted, the ropes dug into his wrist. Roland looked down. "What happened?"

"We got ambushed by some bandits."

"Where are Mordecai and Lilith?"

"Mordy ran off, last time I saw Lil' she was burning some thug's face off."

Roland tugged at the ropes again. "We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, no shit."

Roland scoped out the area.

They were stuck in a small circular shaped bungalow. There was only one way to get out which was covered by a shredded tarp. In the very center was a giant pillar which kept the structure standing. Brick and Roland were also tied to it.

Outside Roland could hear the two bandits conversing.

"Where are the guns?"

"Outside, with the bandits."

Roland cursed under his breath. He looked around again, thinking.

Slowly he shifted his feet, there was a sharp clink. Roland looked up. Under his foot was a shard of something -that Roland assumed- used to be a part of something spherical.

Roland had an idea.

"Brick, do you have any grenades left?" Roland asked quietly. The guards outside stopped talking for a minute to listen. Slowly the bandits resumed their conversation.

"No."

"Can you reach my belt?"

Brick's large hand tapped the small of Roland's back then reach his belt. "Yeah." Brick replied.

"Good, there's a sticky grenade on my left."


End file.
